(photo by Carl V.)
“It may serve as a comfort to us, in all our calamities and afflictions, that he that loses anything and gets wisdom by it is a gainer by the loss”
~L. Estrange
Comfort. It is a word, and idea, that has been foremost in my mind for several weeks now. As much as I believe that life is about joy and love and living, it is also about calamity and pain and struggle and loss. Life has been a real struggle for me of late, primarily due to work related issues. A job that was always difficult has become more so with company layoffs and an ever-increasing work load. Sure, I’ve had bad weeks before, but I’ve never experienced such a sustained period of nearly overwhelming stress in my entire existence. I know it will get better, I truly believe that. But what do I do now, in the midst of the storm, to find comfort and peace?
Death has touched us, as it touches people everywhere, every day, whether we personally are cognizant of it or not. The end of 2008 saw the death of a much beloved community builder in the book blog world. Deslily, one of my dear internet friends, has seen the loss of her brother and a dear friend in fairly rapid succession. Neil Gaiman just lost his father. And recently my elementary school teacher lost her husband. He was only in his 50s. He was driving along the road and someone ran a stop sign and killed him. Every Christmas I think of writing this teacher. She gave me an ornament in the 3rd grade that I cherish and each year as I put it up I swear that I am going to sit down and write her a letter. And every year passes and I do not get to it. It has taken death to move me to reach out.
